The invention generally relates to hand-held surgical instruments and to procedures that deploy these instruments through tissue to access interior regions of the body.
There are many different types and styles of hand-held surgical instruments that physicians use to gain access into interior body regions. These instruments are intended to penetrate tissue by the application of pushing forces, twisting forces, or both in combination.
Often, a single surgical procedure will require the physician to employ different surgical instruments, each possessing a different shape, size, and function. Often, the procedure will require the physician to deploy these instruments in both soft and hard tissue to meet the diagnostic or therapeutic objectives of the procedure. The physician will often need an enhanced mechanical advantage to advance an instrument through tissue, particularly through dense or hard tissue, such as bone.
The common need to use different instruments in a given procedure, coupled with the absolute need to accurately and reliably deploy each of these different instruments through both soft and hard tissue, often with an enhanced mechanical advantage, complicate the physician""s already difficult task. The need to handle different instruments in different ways for different purposes can distract the physician and lead to wasted effort, which lengthen the overall time of the procedure.
The invention provides a handle for releasable attachment to a surgical instrument. The handle permits a physician to fit a selected instrument to the handle tactilely, without need of visual confirmation. At the same time, the handle makes possible the reliable transmission, with increased mechanical advantage, of both torsional and longitudinal loads by the physician to the selected instrument. The handle also permits quick detachment of the selected instrument from the handle, without sticking or inordinate force.
In a preferred embodiment, the invention provides a single handle for releasable attachment to one or more different surgical instruments. This aspect of the invention provides a surgical system, which comprises first and second functional instruments and a single mating handle. The first functional instrument includes a first handle attachment site characterized by a first geometry. The second functional instrument includes a second handle attachment site characterized by a second geometry different than the first geometry. The handle is provided for manipulating the first and second functional instruments when in use. The handle includes a first component configured to removably engage the first handle attachment site but not the second handle attachment site. The handle also includes a second component configured to removably engage the second handle attachment site but not the first handle attachment site.
Another aspect of the invention provides a surgical system comprising first and second functional instruments and a handle. The first functional instrument includes a handle attachment site and an interior bore. The second functional instrument is sized for passage through the interior bore of the first functional instrument. The handle has a component configured to removably engage the handle attachment site, for manipulating the first functional instrument when in use. The handle also includes a passageway leading into the component, which allows the second instrument to be passed through the handle and interior bore of the first functional. instrument while the first functional instrument is removably engaged by the component.
Still another aspect of the invention provides a surgical procedure kit comprising a functional instrument and a handle including an element to releasably engage the functional instrument for manipulating the functional instruments when in use. The kit also includes an overwrap defining a sealed enclosure holding the functional instrument and handle until use.
In a preferred embodiment, the kit holds selected surgical instruments and auxiliary components required for a given procedure in a secure position during sterilization and storage prior to use. In this embodiment, the handle releasably attaches to one or more of the surgical instruments contained in the kit. The kit presents the handle, the surgical instruments, and the auxiliary components in an ordered, organized layout, which is arranged to aid the physician in efficiently carrying out the intended procedure, without distraction and wasted effort.
Features and advantages of the inventions are set forth in the following Description and Drawings, as well as in the appended claims.